Depletion of fossil fuel led the world to find out other alternative sources for energy. New fuel resources like CNG, LNG, CBM, Gas hydrates, shale gas are declared as “the fuel of future” because of its properties and potential. New fuel resources consists more than 80% methane and the other components are higher alkene gasses and nitrogen, CO2, SO2 etc. methane is the simplest alkane and one of the most potent greenhouse gas present in the atmosphere.
Main component of CNG (compressed natural gas), LNG (liquefied natural gas) is methane. But the production, storage and the safety problem related to these resources led the researchers to work on other alternatives with easier routes to produce fuels. The disadvantage of LNG and CNG is that it is stored at a high pressure (20 to 150 psi). The big disadvantage is the need to deal with the storage and handling of a cryogenic (−160° C., −260° F.) fluid through the entire process of bulk transport and transfer to fleet storage. The cryogenic temperature makes it extremely difficult or impossible to add an odorant. Therefore, with no natural odor of its own, there is no way for personnel to detect leaks unless the leak is sufficiently large to create a visible condensation cloud or localized frost formation. Typical LNG storage vessels are inner pressure vessel made from nickel steel or aluminum alloys exhibiting high strength characteristics under cryogenic temperatures several inches of insulation in a vacuum environment between the outer jacket and the inner pressure vessel. Stationary tanks often use finely ground perlite powder, while portable tanks often use aluminized mylar super-insulation. Outer vessel made of carbon steel and not normally exposed to cryogenic temperatures.
Unlike CNG, LNG cannot be odorized; therefore, there is some concern about the ability of personnel to detect TLV (Threshold limit value) concentrations. This is another reason to ensure that methane detectors are in place wherever personnel may be exposed. Now methane can be utilized via methanol synthesis or with Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. And these processes proceed using synthesis gas. Now methane can be activated to produce synthesis gas with different reforming processes. Partial oxidation, Dry reforming, steam reforming are the primary routes to produce synthesis gas (mixture of CO and H2). Partial oxidation is a process with a major advantage of producing synthesis gas with H2/CO ratio 2, which is desired for the methanol synthesis in the Fischer-Tropsch process. But the process has its own limitations. The process is difficult to control because of its exothermic nature and local heat generation on the catalyst surface. The problem is mostly with the Ni-catalysts. The dry reforming of methane is another process to produce synthesis gas. The H2/CO ratio obtained in this case is 1. Commercially synthesis gas is produced by steam reforming of methane. The obtained H2/CO ratio is 3. So, dry reforming and steam reforming has problems with the H2/CO ratio used in the FT synthesis. Nowadays researchers are working on new ideas to produce synthesis gas from methane. Bi-reforming, auto thermal reforming, tri-reforming of methane are the processes by which synthesis gas can be produced. These are the new area of research to establish a new process for the generation of synthesis gas.
Methanol is supposed to be a future fuel with very high energy density. Methanol is produced in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis using synthesis gas (mixture of H2 and CO) with H2/CO ratio 2. Tri-reforming of methane can produce synthesis gas with different H2/CO ratio by variation of feed ratios. Now, with a definite feed ratio we can also get H2/CO ratio 2 which is the major requirement for methanol synthesis in FT Synthesis.
Tri reforming is a modern technique which is used for the direct production of methanol from new fuel resources or methane with desired H2:CO ratio. As the name suggests it is a combination of three reforming processes: a) Steam methane reforming, b) Partial oxidation and c) Dry reforming.
The very motive of developing this was to make use of the energy loss taking place and also to overcome the disadvantages of dry reforming, i.e., a) Coke deposition, and b) Short catalyst life.
The various advantages of tri reforming of methane are:                a) Desired syngas ratio can be produced which in turn will have quality applications.        b) The carbon deposition on the catalyst can be significantly reduced by the steam and oxygen used which will increase the catalyst life as well as efficiency of the operation.        c) Energy efficiency of the reactor is increased as oxidation is an exothermic reaction and the heat generated in situ can be used for other reforming reactions.        d) Flue can be directly used rather than separating the individual constituents hence saving cost and complexity.        e) The conversion of methane and carbon dioxide is high.        f) There is no need of handling pure oxygen if the reactant source is flue gas.        
The major disadvantages include:                a) Flue gases contain inert nitrogen gas in high concentrations, hence proper disposal of nitrogen and also other toxic gases present in flue gases such as SOx, NOx and other toxic substances must be considered in the conversion process design.        b) There is still a need for an effective conversion of CO2 in presence of O2 and H2O.        c) Tri reforming has not been studied systematically.Therefore, it is obvious that tri-reforming of methane can be very useful if it can be used with in a proper way.        
Reference can be made to the article International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2013), 38(11), 4524-4532, where Jesus Manuel Garcia-Vargas et. al. reported Ni/β-siC-based catalyst for the tri-reforming of methane. They reported 95.9% methane conversion at 800° C.
Reference can be made to the article Preprints of Symposia—American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry (2012), 57(1), 839-840 where Tracy J Benson reported Ni catalyst supported on titanium oxide.
Reference can be made to the article Applied Catalysis, B: Environmental (2011), 104(1-2), 64-73 where Lidia Pino et al. reported tri-reforming of methane over Ni—CeO2 catalysts with different La loadings at 800° C. with CH4 and CO2 conversion of 96% and 86.5% respectively.
Reference can be made to the article Reaction Kinetics, Mechanisms and Catalysis, Volume 101, Issue 2, Pages 407-416 where Leonardo J. L. Maciel et al. reported methane and carbon dioxide conversions of 97.35% and 46.75% with Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst at over 727° C.
Reference can be made to the article Catalysis Today, Volume 87, Issue 1-4, Pages 133-137, Journal, 2003 where Lee Seung-Ho reported Ni/ZrO2 catalyst for the tri-reforming of methane.
Reference can be made to the article International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2014), 39(24), 12578-12585 where Joseph Wood reported Ni@SiO2 core shell catalyst for the tri-reforming of methane. They reported 71.2 and 63.0 methane and CO2 conversion at 750° C. with CH4:CO2:H2O:O2:He feed ratio 1:0.5:1.0:0.1:0.4 and the drawback of the report is the catalyst stability. The catalyst shows deactivation after 4 hrs. of time on stream.
Reference can be made to the article Preprints of Papers—American Chemical Society, Division of Fuel Chemistry 2004, 49 (1), 128 where Song reported 96% methane and 81% CO2 conversion at 800° C. with H2/CO mole ratio 1.72.
In the earlier reports the best H2/CO observed for the tri-reforming reaction is in between 1.5-2. However, we have observed bit higher than 2, which is quite significant for syngas conversion process.